Drying-kiln.



No. 745,085. PATENTED NOV. 24,1903. LA FAYETTE O. VAN DUZER.

DRYING KILN.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 7, 1903. N0 MODEL.

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No. 745,085. PATENTED NOV. 24, 1903. LA FAYETTE G. VAN DUZER.

DRYING KILN. APPLICATION FILED MAY 7, 190a.

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PATENTED NOV. 24, 1903.

LA FAYETTE G. VAN DUZER.

DRYING KILN.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 7, 1903.

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Patent @rmcn.

LA FAYETTE CLAY VAN DUZER, OF BILOXI, MISSISSIPPI, ASSIGNOR TO ELIZABETH F. VAN DUZER AND ELIZABETH H. VAN DUZER, OF BI- LOXI, MISSISSIPPI.

DRYING-'KILN.

SPEGIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 745,085, dated November 24, 1903.

Application filed May '7, 1903. Serial No. 156,031. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern:

Beitknown that 1, LA FAYETTE CLAY VAN DUZER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Biloxi, in the county of Harrison and State of Mississippi, have invented new and useful Improvements in DryingKilns, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

Myinvention relates to drying-kilns adapted for use in drying different substances such as lumber, bricks, and grain-although it is more especially adapted to the treatment of lumber, for the reason that this material can be economically and thoroughly seasoned in a comparatively short space of time.

The invention is designed as an improvement' in that class of driers disclosed by United States Letters Patent No. 440,451, issued to me on November 11, 1890; and one object that I have in view in the present invention is to secure a better distribution and an increased circulation of the heated or rare fied air throughout the drying-chamber.

Afurther object of the invention is to provide improved means for distributing the products of combustion throughout the area below the floor of the drying-chamber.

A further object is to so arrange and dispose the several parts of the structure that the heated dry air will be admitted to the dry end of the kiln-chamber and pass from thence toward the green end of the kiln, while the material will be admitted first into the green end of said kiln and be gradually advanced to the dry end thereof, whereby the partiallydried material will be subjected to the action of hot dry air, which will absorb or take up the moisture, and the moisture-laden air will thereafter circulate around the green or undried material, so as to first subject the latter on its introduction to the kiln to the actionof a relatively low temperature moist heat.

A further object is to equip the kiln with doors of improved construction adapted to be opened without let or hindrance; but these doors are adapted to be easily and quickly closed in such a way as to inclose the rails of the tracks on which the loaded cars are adapted to travel, thus preventing the formation of spaces 01' crevices below the doors.

YVith these ends in-view the invention consists in the novel construction and arrangementof parts, which will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.

. Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure l is a vertical sectional elevation of a drying-kiln constructed in accordance with my invention and looking at the green end of the kiln into which the material is to be introduced. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 3, and Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional elevation taken in the plane of the irregular line 3 3 of Fig. 2.

A designates the kiln structure, and B the drying-chamber thereof. The fioor of the kiln may be of any suitable construction; but, as shown by the drawings, this floor is formed by the elevated tracks 0, on which are adapted to run the wheeled trucks D, which carry the material to be dried.

In Figs. 1 and 3 of the drawings I have shown these trucks as carrying loads of lumher which it is desired to dry and season by exposing the same for a proper length of time to the action of heated air supplied to the chamber B; but it is evident that the kiln may be used for drying other material than lumber, such as bricks and grain. The loaded cars are run into the kiln-chamber B through a door-opening a, which is provided at the front or green end of the kiln, and this dooropening is adapted to he closed by means of the doors b, the latter being preferably of sliding variety and equipped with the wheelhangers 1), adapted to the tracks 5 The particular type of doors, however, is not important; but I prefer to employ the sliding doors, because doors'of large size can be manipulated quite easily. The doors are not as high as the door-opening a, and one part of my invention consists in providing the doors with flaps c, said flaps being hinged to the lower edges of the doors, as at c in Figs. 1 and 3. These flaps are adapted to be raised previous to opening the doors; but when said doors are closed the flaps are lowered in order to inclosethe end portions of the tracks 0, thereby effectually closing the door-opening (t and overcoming the presence of crevices or spaces below the door through which some of the heat can escape or by which cold atmospheric air may accidentally be admitted to the drying-chamber B.

E designates an air shaft or stack which rises from the roof of the kiln structure to a suitable height and is located near the front or green end of the kiln, said shaft or stack communicating directly with the upper part of the kiln-chamber B and serving as the means for carrying off the moisture-laden air after it shall have completed its circulation through the kiln-chamber.

Below the kiln-floor and at the entrance or green end of the kiln-chamber is erected a heating-chamber F, the same being either built up of brick or masonry or constructed of metal. This heating-chamber contains a furnace G of any suitable construction; but I prefer to employ a furnace of a type suitable for the consumption of. waste lumber products, such as slabs, sawdust, shavings, or the like. Air is admitted to the chamber F by a door or doors fin the front of the kiln, and, if desired, I may also employ a subterranean air-ductf, having one end open to the outer air, while its other end communicates with the heating-chamber F in rear of the furnace G. (See the full and dotted lines in Figs. '1, 2, and 3.)

From the rear end of the furnace G leads a horizontal smoke pipe or flue H, the latter communicating directly with the furnace and serving to carry the smoke and product-s of combustion longitudinally and centrally through the lower part of the kiln and below the floor thereof. This smoke flue or tube communicates at the rear end with the central portion of a horizontal heating-drum I, the latter being located transversely across the kiln at the dry end thereof and arranged in the'same horizontal plane as the smoke tube or flue H. This distributing-drum I is below the kiln-floor and is nearly as long as the kiln is wide. Horizontal distributingtubes J are arranged on opposite sides of the smoke flue or tube H and near the end portions of the transverse drum I. These distributing tubes are preferably of less diameter than the smoke-flue H and the drum I, and said distributing-tubes are attached at their rear ends to the drum I, hear the end portions of the latter, thus making the distributing-tubes J communicate directly with the distributing-drum I. The front ends of the distributing-tubes Jare attached to and communicate directly with other horizontal distributing-drums K, the latter being disposed on opposite sides of the smoke-flue H and located in parallel relation to the large distributing-drum I. The smaller distributing-drums K are closed at their inner ends; but the other ends of said drums K are extended or carried through the side walls of the kiln structure, so as to communicate with the upstanding smoke-stacks L, the latter being located outside of the kiln and rising to a suitable height above the same.

M designates an air-distributing casing which surrounds the smoke-flue H for a portion of its length, and this casing has its front end extended or carried through the rear wall of the heating-chamber F. The casing M thus communicates directly with the heating-chamber, and in the top part of the casing is provided a series of doors m, through which the heated or rarefied air is permitted to make its escape from the space surrounding the smoke-flue and into the kilnchamber.

The operation of my improved kiln may be described as follows: A fire is started in the furnace, and the smoke and other products of combustion pass through the smoke-flue H, the drum I, the distributing tubes J, the drums K, and finally makes its exit through the stacks L, the smoke and heat dividing as it passes from the flue H into the transverse drum I, so that the products of combustion will be distributed uniformly below the kilnfloor. Atmospheric air is free to pass into the chamber F through the doors faud the ductf, and this air is heated by contact with the furnace and with the smoke-flue H, the heated air passing from the heating-chamber into the casing M, from whence it is distributed through the doors m. The heat radiated by the smoke flue, the distributingdrums, and thepipes ascends in the rear dry part of the kiln-chamber, and the rarefied air supplied by the casing M to the kiln-chamber also passes toward the rear. It will be understood that the rear part of the kilnchamber is of higher temperature than the front or green end of said chamber. The loaded cars are first placed in the front end of the chamber, and as the material thereon becomes partially dried the cars are shoved into the rear part of the chamber, where the highest temperature prevails. The hottest air supplied to the kiln-chamber is thus free to circulate around the partially or nearly dried substance, while the air is free to pass from the rear toward the front of the chamber B, during which course of circulation the air will take up the moisture from the material undergoing treatment. The circulation of the moisturedaden air toward the front or green end of the kiln-chamber has an upward tendency toward the air-stackE; but this relatively low-temperature and moisture-laden current of air willcirculate around the green material which is introduced by the car at the front portion of the chamber B, whereby the green substance is subjected to the action of a low temperature and moisture-laden aircurrent. The cars containing the dried ma terial are removed from the kiln at proper in terva-ls, the partially-dried material is moved from the green end of the kiln toward the dry end thereof, and fresh cars loaded with green material are introduced into the front end of the kiln-chamber.

ICC

.Patent I 1. A drying-kiln havingaheating-chamber, a furnace located therein, a horizontal smokeflue leading from said furnace through and beyond the heating-chamber and below the floor of the kiln, a transverse pipe connected to the end of the smoke-flue, longitudinal distributing-pipes on opposite sides of the smokeflue and connected to the transverse pipe, and other transverse distributing-pipes extending outside of the kiln and having upstanding outlet-pipes; said last-mentioned distributing-pipes being connected to the longitudinal pipes and located on opposite sides of the smoke-flue.

2. A drying-kiln having a heating-chamber, a furnace therein, a smoke-flue leading from said furnace through the heating-chamber and below the kiln-floor, a casing enveloping said smoke-flue and communicating with the heating-chamber to be supplied with warm air thereby, said casing having valved openings for discharging warm air into the kilnchamber, and distributing-pipes connected with the smoke-flue.

3. A drying-kiln comprising a suitable drying-chamber, aheating-chamber having cold:

air inlets, a furnace in said heating-chamber, a smoke-flue leading from the furnace and extending horizontally through the heatingchamber and the lower part of said dryingchamber, an air-heating casing surrounding said smoke-flue and communicating with said heating-chamber, to be supplied with warm air therefrom, and dampers for individually regulating the air-openings in said casing.

4:- A drying-kiln comprisingasuitable dryingchamber, a furnace, a smoke -fiue connected with said furnace and extending centrally and horizontally through the lower part of the drying-chamber, a transverse drum connected with the rear end of said smokeflue, distributing-pipes arranged on opposite sides of the smoke-flue and communicating with the end portions of the transverse drum, other drums located in the drying-chamber and communicating with the distributingpipes, and separate smoke-stacks communicating with the last-mentioned drums.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LA FAYETTE CLAY VAN DUZER.

Witnesses:

A. F. THOMASSON, W. G. SMITH. 

